Diverse path led to career in education
1. First job and where are you now?
My first job was working at the Eversley Hotel in Seaford, East Sussex as a general factotum (it included cleaning the guests’ rooms). I was 16 years old. After completing my degree in English Literature, I worked in the City of London as a Lloyds Insurance broker, then set up my own travel business which I ran for six years. I sold the business and spent two years travelling around the world. It was while I was in Sydney that I had a vivid dream in which I was teaching an English class. The next morning, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I went back to Oxford for a year to get my teaching qualification and it was during that year that we decided to emigrate to Australia. I am currently enjoying my 18th year as headmaster of All Saints Anglican School.
2. Best business advice you’ve ever received?
My father was a businessman in the old tradition where a handshake was enough to seal a deal. His advice to me was to be a man of my word, to always put people before profits and to understand the pre-eminent value of trust. Trust must be earned, but it is impossible to run a successful business unless the staff trust the management and vice versa.
3. What you wish you knew when you first started?
It is the mistakes we make that help to inform our future practice, so I don’t really regret my growing pains in the job. Perhaps the one insight I wish I had grasped early on was to let go of those situations over which I have little or no influence and to preserve my energy for areas where I can make a constructive contribution.
4. Your golden rule in business?
I think it is important to get
to know your staff as well as you can and to find ways through your actions of letting them know that their welfare is a matter of the utmost importance to you. The way any leader treats their staff will ultimately define their success.
5. A long lunch – a waste of time or essential?
We have all somehow allowed ourselves to become “time poor” in modern life. Sharing a meal in a relaxed setting with valued colleagues can be thoroughly restorative and engaging and a great opportunity to discuss issues of importance. The prevalence of electronic avenues for communication has had a rather debilitating influence on the art of conversation. Talking openly and honestly with trusted colleagues will always produce better outcomes than a “conversation” through emails.
6. Who is in your business mobile’s speed dial?
I don’t operate a speed dial but if I did it would be my Chair of School Council and my executive team (which includes the school chaplain), the school psychologist and the head of grounds and maintenance.
7. If you had $1 million spare what industry would you be investing in right now?
Not surprisingly, I would want to invest in education. Young people are facing such a complex world. The choices they have can be overwhelming and there is still much work to be done in helping our children to negotiate a landscape that is constantly shifting. We all know there are rising levels of depression and anxiety among our youth and if I had a spare million dollars I would invest it in developing carefully designed programs for schools that seek to reduce anxiety and promote wellbeing among students.
8. What should primary students be studying?
Educators throughout the world are grappling with precisely this issue. How do we adequately prepare our children for a future we can only imagine? For me, it comes back to basics. Knowledge in itself does not necessarily make for a happy life. We need to equip our primary students with a clear and wholesome set of values and encourage them to understand that who they are becoming will always be more important than what they do. It is also important to teach them problem-solving skills which will help them to adapt when necessary to their changing environment.
9. Biggest frustration doing business on the Gold Coast and how to fix it?
I find it frustrating that the economy seems to be taking such a long time to recover from 2008. Each year I dare to hope that things are improving a little, yet everywhere I look there are still too many families struggling to make ends meet. I think we underestimate the stress that financial insecurity places on families and I urgently hope that before too long we will begin to see the economy turn around in our beautiful corner of the world.
Sponsored by All Saints Anglican School